So glad we didn't blow that money. I would have paid him $30 million a year for 5 years, but not 10. Now we have money freed up to put together another winner.

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I also think this will help Mattheny get control of the Clubhouse. Scotty ball game said the attitude sucked in the clubhouse because of 5 and 4 and some of the others.

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On ESPN this morning, Kurkjian said that there were reports over the last 3 years, Pujols didn't feel like he was 'wined and dined' enough by the Cardinals. But I always heard Albert had the run of the clubhouse and the organization protected him like no other organization would.

Bottom line, I'm bummed to see him go from a baseball player standpoint. We won't see him hit 500 here (or if he breaks the all time HR record, won't see that either). We won't see him retire a Cardinal. We won't see him eclipse Stan the Man as the greatest Cardinal ever.

But from a Cardinals fan standpoint, this is best case scenario. Sure, in the short term, this is going to look bad and the Cardinals may suffer a bit next year on the field. But that money is now freed up to go after some other free agents and make up a more solid and rounded team. Pujols' numbers are only going to decline. He's got the no trade in Anaheim, but he can also become a DH, which he wouldn't be able to do if he stayed with the Cards, obviously. We got his best years, now it's time to get younger and more versatile. It was a great 11 years with Pujols and we were lucky he was on our team for that long.

One more thing: the AL's slogan should be, "The American League--where aging sluggers who can't play defense go to finish their careers.'

Also, he's wearing an Angels cap as he goes into the Hall of Fame, right?

This was written by Will Leitch (formerly of Deadspin, lifelong Cardinal who grew up in Mattoon, IL). It sums up my feelings about this as well.

Quote:

I haven't accepted that Albert Pujols, as true and perfect a Cardinals as the franchise had known since Stan Musial, has signed a 10-year contract for $250 million with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and I hope you're not expecting me to have coherent thoughts on the matter. It just happened. So I'm just gonna start a numbered list of random thoughts and then when I stop crying, the list will be done.

1. The contract is insane. Despite the repeated rumors that Pujols is older than his reported age of 32, there's been zero proof, ever, that's true. It's still freaking nuts to give a 32-year-old first baseman who is already limping half the time $25 million at the age of 42. (And that's if they haven't backloaded the contract like the Marlins did with Jose Reyes.) The Cardinals were never going to get close to that number.

2. And they shouldn't have. The first 10 years of Albert Pujols' career have been the closest we've come to having Ted Williams back again, but there are spending limits. Even accounting for Pujols' off-the-field contributions, $250 million is ridiculous. Even if the Cardinals had Yankees money, they shouldn't have paid that much.

3. (And ask the Yankees about A-Rod in five years, if you doubt that.)

4. So much for the Vernon Wells contract taking the Angels out of the bidding.

5. Pujols will be a good fit in Anaheim, far better than in Miami. That's a solid, likable franchise, and with Mike Scioscia as manager, he has the closest thing to a Tony LaRussa replacement as you can imagine. They'll love him there. At least for the first couple of years.

6. The Cardinals are not destroyed as a franchise. They had been allotting for a crazy outside offer like this, and they'll be fine in the short term, with Lance Berkman at first base and, potentially, Carlos Beltran in right field. (That's a very likely signing in the next week, actually.) It's a shame Pujols waited until after Reyes to sign: The Cardinals would have gone after Reyes in a second, had they known funds would be freed up.

7. And that very sentence is a good example of why Cardinals fans can't get too aggrieved by the Angels signing Albert: They would have done the same thing with Reyes, another franchise's homegrown star player, had they been given the opportunity. This is how it works.

8. The Cardinals won the World Series this year. That makes a substantial difference, you know. It helps one deal with a loss like this when you just won the World Series in the most exciting fashion imaginable.

9. Albert is not LeBron, for many, many reasons. The Cardinals aren't as devastated as the Cavaliers. Pujols didn't announce this on television. The Angels aren't in Miami.

10. This also isn't Barry Bonds leaving the Pirates for the Giants. It won't be 20 years until the Cardinals are in the playoffs again. It might not even be one year.

11. The American League just got that much more entertaining. For the next three years anyway.

12. Everyone should always refer to the Angels by their proper name: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They are not the Los Angeles Angels.

13. Albert's place in St. Louis Cardinals history is more than secure.

14. But he'll be wearing an Angels hat when he's inducted into the Hall of Fame. And that's where all this breaks down.

15. Listen: I know the Cardinals couldn't (and shouldn't have) given Albert all that money. I know Albert had every right -- even every obligation, one could argue -- to get the best deal for himself as he possibly could. I know that he didn't owe the Cardinals or their fans anything more than that, particularly considering the Cardinals won two World Series during his time in town. I know that the Cardinals will be fine. I know that this is just baseball and it's just a silly game and it doesn't really matter and that we're all gonna end up dead and buried someday anyway and what use is a baseball team we're all just rooting for laundry so on so forth.

16. But Albert Pujols doesn't play for the St. Louis Cardinals anymore. That central organizing principle, not just in the lives of Cardinals fans, but in baseball itself, is over. It's surreal to even think about it. I haven't come to terms with it yet, and I'm not sure I will. It's fine. Albert will be fine, and the Cardinals will be fine, and the Angels will be fine, and everyone will move on with their lives. But Albert Pujols and the Cardinals were linked in the way that Derek Jeter and the Yankees are linked, the way that Cal Ripken and the Orioles were linked, the way that Tony Gwynn and the Padres were linked. That is one of baseball's unique pleasures: The way one man can become an institution in a place, someone who five-year-olds can talk about with 85-year-olds. Albert Pujols is not a bad person for leaving the Cardinals, and the Cardinals are not less of a franchise for losing him.

17. This was rational actors acting rationally. There is nothing anyone should be ashamed of here.

18. It still feels like we all lost something. It still feels like something everyone's gonna end up regretting. It still feels wrong. I suspect it always will.

This was written by Will Leitch (formerly of Deadspin, lifelong Cardinal who grew up in Mattoon, IL). It sums up my feelings about this as well.

Quote:

I haven't accepted that Albert Pujols, as true and perfect a Cardinals as the franchise had known since Stan Musial, has signed a 10-year contract for $250 million with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and I hope you're not expecting me to have coherent thoughts on the matter. It just happened. So I'm just gonna start a numbered list of random thoughts and then when I stop crying, the list will be done.

1. The contract is insane. Despite the repeated rumors that Pujols is older than his reported age of 32, there's been zero proof, ever, that's true. It's still freaking nuts to give a 32-year-old first baseman who is already limping half the time $25 million at the age of 42. (And that's if they haven't backloaded the contract like the Marlins did with Jose Reyes.) The Cardinals were never going to get close to that number.

2. And they shouldn't have. The first 10 years of Albert Pujols' career have been the closest we've come to having Ted Williams back again, but there are spending limits. Even accounting for Pujols' off-the-field contributions, $250 million is ridiculous. Even if the Cardinals had Yankees money, they shouldn't have paid that much.

3. (And ask the Yankees about A-Rod in five years, if you doubt that.)

4. So much for the Vernon Wells contract taking the Angels out of the bidding.

5. Pujols will be a good fit in Anaheim, far better than in Miami. That's a solid, likable franchise, and with Mike Scioscia as manager, he has the closest thing to a Tony LaRussa replacement as you can imagine. They'll love him there. At least for the first couple of years.

6. The Cardinals are not destroyed as a franchise. They had been allotting for a crazy outside offer like this, and they'll be fine in the short term, with Lance Berkman at first base and, potentially, Carlos Beltran in right field. (That's a very likely signing in the next week, actually.) It's a shame Pujols waited until after Reyes to sign: The Cardinals would have gone after Reyes in a second, had they known funds would be freed up.

7. And that very sentence is a good example of why Cardinals fans can't get too aggrieved by the Angels signing Albert: They would have done the same thing with Reyes, another franchise's homegrown star player, had they been given the opportunity. This is how it works.

8. The Cardinals won the World Series this year. That makes a substantial difference, you know. It helps one deal with a loss like this when you just won the World Series in the most exciting fashion imaginable.

9. Albert is not LeBron, for many, many reasons. The Cardinals aren't as devastated as the Cavaliers. Pujols didn't announce this on television. The Angels aren't in Miami.

10. This also isn't Barry Bonds leaving the Pirates for the Giants. It won't be 20 years until the Cardinals are in the playoffs again. It might not even be one year.

11. The American League just got that much more entertaining. For the next three years anyway.

12. Everyone should always refer to the Angels by their proper name: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They are not the Los Angeles Angels.

13. Albert's place in St. Louis Cardinals history is more than secure.

14. But he'll be wearing an Angels hat when he's inducted into the Hall of Fame. And that's where all this breaks down.

15. Listen: I know the Cardinals couldn't (and shouldn't have) given Albert all that money. I know Albert had every right -- even every obligation, one could argue -- to get the best deal for himself as he possibly could. I know that he didn't owe the Cardinals or their fans anything more than that, particularly considering the Cardinals won two World Series during his time in town. I know that the Cardinals will be fine. I know that this is just baseball and it's just a silly game and it doesn't really matter and that we're all gonna end up dead and buried someday anyway and what use is a baseball team we're all just rooting for laundry so on so forth.

16. But Albert Pujols doesn't play for the St. Louis Cardinals anymore. That central organizing principle, not just in the lives of Cardinals fans, but in baseball itself, is over. It's surreal to even think about it. I haven't come to terms with it yet, and I'm not sure I will. It's fine. Albert will be fine, and the Cardinals will be fine, and the Angels will be fine, and everyone will move on with their lives. But Albert Pujols and the Cardinals were linked in the way that Derek Jeter and the Yankees are linked, the way that Cal Ripken and the Orioles were linked, the way that Tony Gwynn and the Padres were linked. That is one of baseball's unique pleasures: The way one man can become an institution in a place, someone who five-year-olds can talk about with 85-year-olds. Albert Pujols is not a bad person for leaving the Cardinals, and the Cardinals are not less of a franchise for losing him.

17. This was rational actors acting rationally. There is nothing anyone should be ashamed of here.

18. It still feels like we all lost something. It still feels like something everyone's gonna end up regretting. It still feels wrong. I suspect it always will.

All that is very logical and great. However, I hope he and the Angels fail.

My emotions over this have really run the gamut. At first I was shocked. Then angry. Then sad. Now, I'm just disappointed.

I really wanted Albert to retire a Cardinal, for sentimental reasons if nothing else, even if it meant a slightly bad contract. But, $254 mil over 10 years is insane, especially when you factor in his age and health issues. There's almost no chance this contract proves to be a good deal for the Angels. Then again, they just signed a new TV deal for $150 ml/year for 20 years. So, they can afford to give bad contracts. So, I'm happy the Cards didn't match that.

As for Albert, it's totally his right to chase the money. I don't have a problem with that. But, I feel a little betrayed, largely because of this quote:

Quote:

“Do I want to be in St. Louis forever? Of course,” Pujols said. “…People from other teams want to play in St. Louis and they’re jealous that we’re in St. Louis because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a place like St. Louis to go somewhere else and make $3 or $4 more million a year? It’s not about the money. I already got my money. It’s about winning and that’s it.”

If the Cards offered 9 years ~$210 as reported, that's $23+ mil/year. What happened to not caring about an extra $3-4 mil/year? What happened to wanting to stay a Cardinal even if he could make more elsewhere? The Angels clearly have a good chance to win, but the Cards have played in more WS than any other franchise since AP joined the league. So, it's not like he's leaving a losing franchise to win. He's leaving a winning franchise for money more or less directly contradicting what he has said he would do. The fact it feels like a lie is what pisses me off.

I don't know how I'll react when seeing him play now. But, I do not want him to win another WS. If the Cards could somehow beat the Angels in the WS, that would be the ultimate slap in the face to him.

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